


The Power of Good WiFi and an Even Better Heart

by Sam03



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Bisexual Female Character, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:15:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29901633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam03/pseuds/Sam03
Summary: Tony Stark's WiFi is the best in the city, making Stark Towers the best place to hang out outside of to do homework. Stumbling over a group of students on his way out of the Tower one day may lead him down a path he never could have predicted.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Original Character(s), Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	The Power of Good WiFi and an Even Better Heart

Tony Stark was not a naïve man.

He was well aware that he had done many, many bad things in his life. More than he could count on an infinite number of hands really. 

But he was also self confident and self aware enough to realize that he had done some good with his life as well. Maybe you had to look a little harder for them (something the press rarely bothered to do), but once you did you could see that Iron Man wasn’t all bad. 

Contrary to popular belief Tony did have feelings. He didn’t like the dropping sensation in his stomach or the squeezing of his heart when he saw that his name and “Merchant of Death” were trending in spots 1 and 2 on Twitter every other month. He didn’t like when reporters shouted at him about all of the people he’d killed in Sokovia, or how he’d nearly killed Captain America. 

Neither of those were exactly true, but that’s besides the point. 

No, he didn’t particularly like being known as a heartless murder who would just as soon blast you with a repulsor as he would help you find your way on the street. 

Maybe that’s why at 3 in the morning Tony was hauling brand new Stark laptops and various other equipment into the elevator and down to the ground floor. 

The Tower was completely empty from the Avengers’ floors down, and the whole team was asleep or at least in their rooms. He had no witnesses as he fought with various cords and fragile screens as he lugged it all back out of the elevator. 

It was probably a good thing no one was around, he realized, when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in a window. He was in a pair of grease stained jeans and a ripped Metallica shirt that was probably decades older than most of his R&D interns. His hair was sticking nearly straight up, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept. Oh well. There were important things to be done. 

Days ago he’d come outside for the first time in much longer than was probably healthy. Pepper needed a certain specific spice from the grocery store around the corner, and no he wasn’t allowed to just have FRIDAY order and deliver it, so out to the store he went. He had to admit the change in scenery was nice, at least, until he nearly fell on his face when he tripped over something sitting by the entrance. 

He looked down to see… a herd of children, teenagers probably, sitting with their backs against the glass front of his tower. They were all either typing furiously on laptops or bent over large books. And now they were all staring at him like he had six heads. 

“Was my building converted into a Chuck E. Cheese and no one told me about it?” 

A few smiled at that, but more of them started to look like they wanted to bolt. Damn it. That’s not what he was going for. Instance number 10,765 of his mouth to brain filter of lack thereof getting him into trouble.

“Stark Tower has the best WiFi in the city,” one of the girls piped up after a long moment. “We come here to do homework and stuff.” 

Tony turned toward her as his eyebrows shot into his hairline. Well, that wasn’t what he was expecting. 

The girl who’d spoken was the only one of them to meet his eyes so far, he realized. She was sitting down with her knees pulled up to her chest, but he thought she might be tall when she stood up. Her shoulders were back and her head was high, even as she gripped her textbook tightly. Nervous, but ready to defend her spot on the concrete. 

“You’d rather sit on the hot sidewalk instead of in a nice air conditioned public library for WiFi that’s a little faster?” It was September and still sweltering hot in New York. He already had sweat dripping down his back and he’d been outside for 30 seconds tops. 

The girl just nodded seriously. “It’s a lot faster.” 

He blinked. “Oh. Okay.” 

“You don’t care that we’re here?” one of the other boys piped up. 

He shrugged. “No. You’re not hurting anything by using the WiFi. It’s not like you’re going to overload the router or anything.” It wasn’t technically even a router, it was FRIDAY, but that was beside the point.

They just continued to stare at him and he shifted uncomfortably. He was many things, but good with children was not one of them. 

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it. What would he even say? Enjoy the concrete, hope you do good on your algebra test! That was stupid. 

He gave them one last glance and sped off towards the grocery store. Real brave, Stark. Real brave. 

After his little run-in with the kids, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. They weren’t there when he came back from the store, but it was getting pretty late. He’d been distracted for all of dinner, and Pepper totally noticed. 

Thankfully, his fiancée was well accustomed to his eccentricities and gave him the space to work it out on his own. 

Which led to him to where he was now, dragging mini fridges and coffee makers into the conference room just off of the main entrance that he’d now commandeered for himself. He owned the whole place, he could do whatever he so pleased with it. 

After more hours than he knew Pepper would have approved of, he stepped back to admire the newly refurbished room.

A long counter at the back of the room held brand new Stark laptops, connected to the WiFi and ready to go. A rolling cabinet on the left side held two different coffee makers, drawers full of Avengers themed mugs, bags of different coffee grounds, and even some boxes of hot chocolate packets. Desks and rolly chairs as well as bean bag chairs and bouncy exercise balls were scattered throughout the room. He wasn’t honestly sure where he’d gotten all of this stuff, but it worked. 

He crossed his arms over his chest. Not too shabby. 

Liberty Ramirez sighed as she shuffled down the sidewalk away from her high school. The streets of New York weren’t exactly the place for a 14 year old girl to be wandering around on her own, but she wasn’t technically alone. 

There was a group of upperclassmen from her school that usually went with her to Stark Towers to mooch off of the WiFi. They weren’t really friends, she actually didn’t think they knew her name, but if someone tried to kidnap her she figured they’d try to step in. They all lived in rougher sections of town, ones that didn’t have access to WiFi speeds anywhere close to the ones offered at Stark Towers. Their shared willingness to do whatever it took to get their work done and keep their grades up gave them some common ground to stand on that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. 

They’d all given each other a look when they caught up to each other on the sidewalk just outside the front doors of the school after the last bell. Tony Stark coming out to see them huddled together on his front steps stealing his Internet connection was up there for the most embarrassing moments of her life, and she knew the others felt the same way. 

But they had grades to keep up, so back to Stark Tower they marched. 

The whole way there she kicked herself for speaking up to Tony freaking Stark yesterday. She was just a freshman, who was she to speak for the seniors sitting next to her? But they’d just sighed with relief when he walked away from them, and no one had said anything to her, so she tried to let it go. Not her specialty by any means, but she tried. 

Two of the kids in the front of their small pack started murmuring as they neared the sidewalk where they usually sat. She wasn’t short, but she couldn’t see over them to get a glimpse of what they were looking at. 

When the group got to the front doors of the Tower she finally had an opening to see what they were talking about. There was a note taped to the glass. 

Chuck E. Cheese Kids,  
Come inside. Hard left just past the reception desk, Louisa will let you guys in.  
-T.S.

They all looked at each other. Without saying a word, one of the older boys shrugged his shoulders and pushed the door open. The rest of them followed like ducklings. 

She’d seen the lobby from the outside, but somehow it was ten times bigger when you were actually standing in it. The whole thing was sleek and modern, with chrome reception desks and bright lights that somehow didn’t hurt her eyes. People in fancy business clothes walked quickly through the lobby, more than one giving them strange looks. 

Seven teenagers in jeans and t-shirts that had definitely seen better days standing in the middle of Tony Stark’s lobby. Of course they were getting weird looks. 

“Can I help you?” a woman’s voice called from the reception desk to their left. 

Libby turned with the rest of the group to see a young woman, probably not much older than the seniors, smiling at them. 

None of the other kids said anything, so Libby stepped forward. “Um, there was a note on the front door?” 

She wasn’t really sure what else to say, but the woman seemed to get it. “Oh! He mentioned you’d probably be coming around this time. I’m Louisa, follow me.” 

She got up from around the desk and gestured for them to follow her down the hallway past her desk. They all glanced at each other before following her. 

Louisa pushed open the first door on the right and gestured for them to come inside. They all filed in and gaped at the room. It was huge, at least three of their classrooms put together. One wall was lined with sleek Stark laptops that she’d only ever seen in Instagram ads. The other was full of what looked like coffee and snack bars, and a couple different mini fridges. There were desks and even bean bag chairs and bouncy balls scattered throughout the entire room.

Louisa laughed at the way they all gawked. “I believe Mr. Stark left you a note on the back counter. The bathroom is two doors down on the right. Gender neutral of course, so don’t worry about that. If you need anything at all, come on out to me, okay?” 

When they nodded at her she smiled again and left, gently shutting the door behind her. 

They all stared at each other for another long moment before rushing to the countertop at the back. Libby was the first one to reach the piece of paper that was thrown haphazardly on one of the keyboards. 

Chuck E. Cheese kids,  
The room is all yours. Use whatever you want, stay as long as you want. I’ll have someone restock the snacks, leave a note with any requests.  
Have fun :)  
-T.S.

A smile slowly spread across her face. She passed the note to the rest of them and looked around the room once more. 

So. Awesome. 

Tony hadn’t honestly given much thought to the kids downstairs. He’d checked in with FRIDAY and she said they came every weekday. Sometimes one or two of them wouldn’t be there, but it was the same core group of seven kids. They hadn’t done anything bad besides maybe drinking too much coffee, but who was he to judge someone for their caffeine consumption. 

They all seemed like good kids, maybe a few were a little rougher around the edges, but good kids. They obviously really cared about their education, and he admired that. 

He was up and moving before he could really think about it. He was in the elevator and headed downstairs when it hit him what he was doing. He was not good with kids, he had no idea what to say to them, he was invading their space. He had no reason to go down there. 

But he was knocking on the door and pushing it open before he could chicken out and go back upstairs. 

There were only four kids in the room when he looked around. Two boys were sitting at laptops, a girl was laying on one of the exercise balls with her book laying open on the floor, and another girl was sitting on top of a desk with two textbooks balanced on her knees. 

“More comfortable up there kid?” Again with his cursed lack of a filter. 

To his surprise the girl grinned. “I feel like I do my best work sitting in places that aren’t meant to be sat on.” 

He realized this was the girl that had spoken to him outside after he’d tripped over them on the sidewalk. She had straight black hair and dark skin that hinted at possible Hispanic heritage. He grinned at her cheeky answer and she smiled back.

Tony turned to address them all. “I just wanted to come down and see how everything’s going. Is everything in here okay? Do you need anything? More computers? More coffee?” 

The boy farthest to the left with curly blonde hair shook his head quickly. “Everything is perfect, Dr. Stark. Thank you so much for this.” 

Tony smiled again. It wasn’t often that people, especially kids, remembered that yes, he was a doctor. “Just Tony kid. But seriously, I kind of went bare bones here. If you want anything at all just tell me.”

The girl on the floor peered up at him from her bouncy ball. “Bare bones? Are you kidding? This place is amazing!” 

His eyebrows went up a little. “Well thanks kid. What’s your name?” 

She smiled at him, revealing a full set of braces. “I’m Lux.” 

He glanced at the others. The curly blond haired boy was Roman, and the darker haired boy to his right was Marcos. 

He turned to the girl on the desk and she smiled again, showing a deep dimple in her right cheek. “Liberty Ramirez.” 

He smiled at them all. “It’s nice to meet you all. Where’s the rest of your crew?”

“Julias had to stay home and watch his sister because she’s sick, and Sophia and Rita work on Wednesdays right after school,” Marcos explained. 

Tony nodded. “So what are you guys working on?” 

He sat down on a bouncy ball next to Libby, groaning a little as his ancient bones protested. Bringing himself down to their level seemed to help them relax a little. Conversation swept them up as he listened intently to what they were currently doing. 

He learned that Marcos was in some pretty serious online coding classes because their school didn’t offer tech courses. Roman was in AP English, and Lux was taking both AP Calculus and Statistics. Libby was currently in a slew of high level science courses, but right now she was working on AP Organic Chemistry. 

He sat back a bit as they chattered. These kids were insanely smart and just as hard working to be able to keep up with workloads like this. When they talked about the materials they were covering in class, he could tell they really grasped the content and were genuinely passionate about it. 

Especially Liberty. Her eyes lit up when she talked about being a biomechanical engineer and applying to MIT and RIT. Her hands moved almost of their own accord and she didn’t seem to be able to stop herself from going on and on. 

He didn’t mind of course. Something about her innocence and excitement reminded him of himself, long before talks of inheriting companies and legacies ever started. 

He was dragged away from listening to Marcos talk about the travesty of not having technology courses in school by his phone buzzing. Crap. Pepper was waiting for him in a board meeting. 

He reluctantly stood and they fell silent. “I’m sorry guys, I have to head out. Companies don’t run themselves apparently. Who knew?” 

They all laughed and chimed in with various “goodbyes” and “thank yous” that made him smile. 

Yeah, he thought as he shut the door on their chatter. Setting up this space was a good move. 

This was not the last time he’d visit the kids downstairs. In fact, more days than not he’d find himself leaving his lab around 4:30 and not returning for hours. He got to know all the kids personally. 

He learned that Julias had six younger sisters and his mom was a single mom, so he often had to stay home to help take care of them. He learned that Sophia and Rita were twins, both going pre-med after graduation. Marcos and his boyfriend Ahmed were planning to move up to Boston after school to go to college there. Lux was a triplet, but her brothers didn’t take school as seriously as she did. Roman wanted to be a high school English teacher more than anything in the world. Liberty lived with just her mother and spent all of her free time working on college application essays, even though she was the only freshman out of the whole group of seniors.

He also learned that they went to a Title 1 school in the middle of the city, meaning they had next to no funding for just about everything. They all lived in low-income sections of the city, with limited internet access. They were all great kids, just dealt tough hands in life. He was skeptical at first, but now he was completely invested in these kids. 

Especially Liberty. He knew he shouldn’t play favorites, but he just couldn’t help it. She was just so genuinely excited about learning new things. Her hands gestured wildly when she talked about everything from lunch to genetics, her eyes getting bigger the longer she talked. 

She was full of little quirks he found incredibly endearing. She was always sitting somewhere that wasn’t a chair when he came down to check on them, from the top of desks to the rolling coffee cart to straight on the floor. She cracked her knuckles constantly and chewed on her lips until he sometimes saw her pull tissues from her bag to dab up blood. She didn’t even really seem to be aware of it. 

He had grown attached to all of them, but he was especially close to Liberty. He couldn’t help it. She was a miniature version of him. 

He’d gone down earlier that evening and all seven of them had been there. He’d ordered pizza for them and listened to them complain about their days. He’d nearly choked on his pizza when Roman told a story about a senior in his class arguing with him of all people about which “there/their/they’re” to use in a sentence. Dr. Pepper definitely almost launched from his nose as Julias told endless stories about all of the trouble his little sister got into

But throughout the whole night, Liberty had been off. She barely smiled, and her loud laugh that made him laugh as well was noticeably absent. She didn’t touch the pizza or soda he’d brought, even though he knew she was sucker for Mug Root Beer. 

The rest of the kids obviously knew what was up. They didn’t call attention to her, but he’d noticed Lux subtly squeeze her hand a few times. He followed their lead and didn’t draw any attention to her. He assumed something had happened at school, maybe a bully or bad grade. He’d talk to her about it some other day when she was feeling better. 

But hours later as he was getting ready for bed, long after the kids usually left, FRIDAY said, “Sir? I thought you might want to know before you go to sleep that Miss Ramirez is still in the kid’s conference room.” 

Tony frowned. It was almost 11:30. Why was she still here? 

He glanced at Pepper and she frowned as well. She’s only met the kids a few times, but she adored them as well. “Go check on her. Call me if you need me.” 

He slipped sweatpants and a sweatshirt on and made his way downstairs. Everyone had gone home for the night so it was completely dark, but he could see a light on in the small window of the conference room door. He pushed the door open gently and scanned the room. 

Liberty was sitting on a bean bag in the far corner with her knees pulled up to her chest and her face buried in them. Her shoulders shook, and he swore he felt his heart cracking as her sobs echoed through the empty room. 

“Liberty?” He moved quickly, kneeling in front of her. 

She gasped and looked up at him in terror. “Tony? What are you doing here?” 

Her face was red from crying and she tried desperately to wipe the tears from her face. “It’s almost midnight kid. What are you still doing here?” 

The color almost immediately drained from her face. “Holy shit. I'm so sorry Mr. Stark. I didn’t know it was so late, I’m so sorry!” 

Fresh tears leaked from her eyes and he gently took her hand in his. “Easy kiddo. I’m not mad at you, I promise. I told you that you could stay as late as you wanted. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” 

She hiccupped as another sob made her shoulders shake, and it seemed as though she couldn’t calm herself down. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you. I’m so sorry. I just needed to look for-” 

She cut herself off and clamped her lips together. 

He looked down helplessly and spied an old laptop that must have been hers sitting open on the floor next to her. He reached down and turned it towards him. A Google search was open. What to do if you find yourself homeless. 

His heart dropped to his stomach. “What is this kid?” 

She just sobbed harder, pressing her face into her knee caps.

He couldn’t take it any more. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, rocking her back and forth as she sobbed into his shoulder. She clung to him like he was a rock in a raging storm. He felt his neck grow damp from her tears, but he ignored it. He just held her tightly and let her cry it out. 

Eventually her sobs turned into small hiccups. He slowly pulled back and surveyed her face. It was red and swollen, and she had deep bags under her eyes that he had not noticed before. She looked exhausted. 

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. 

He shook his head again. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I want to help you in whatever way I can, but it would help if I knew what’s going on. Do you think you can tell me?” 

She seemed to shrink in on herself, her shoulders hunching and her knees pulling closer to her chest. He opened his mouth but she gave him a small nod. 

He braced himself, but he had to admit he was not ready for her to blurt out, “I’m bi!” 

His brows pulled together and he blinked. “Oh. Uh. Me too. Sorry, that wasn’t the right thing to say. I’m happy for you kid. But uh, in the nicest way, I feel like there’s other things to worry about at this very second?” 

His stupid ramblings brought a small smile to her face, but it quickly faded. “My um, my mom is a really devout Catholic?” 

It was phrased as a question, but his heart sank further as he realized where this was going. She soldiered on. “I um, I told her today. Ya know, that I like guys and girls. It just felt like it was time, and I thought she might be supportive since we’re kind of all we have. And she, uh, she said I was an abomination. That I was going to hell for my sins, and that she wouldn’t have a devil worshiper in her house. She told me to get out and not come back.” 

She was sobbing by the time she finished, and Tony felt a few tears roll down his own cheeks. He pulled her gently into another hug. This time when they pulled away, both of them had wet patches on their sweatshirts. “I just needed to come here so I could charge my phone and look up some places that I could go to stay the night. I had to tell the rest of them, and they all were worried, but none of them could take me in or anything. Their parents have enough to worry about, I couldn’t burden any of them like that.” 

Tony’s chest squeezed to the point of pain. This kid, this adorable, enthusiastic, kind, genius kid, had been told by her own mother that she was an abomination for loving who she loves. He could have thrown up. 

“Come on,” he said, standing up and reaching down to pull her up. She took his hand and let him pull her up, wiping the tears off of her face. 

“Where are we going?” she asked as he reached down and stuffed her laptop into her bag before slinging it over his own shoulder. 

“You’re staying with me.” 

He heard her footsteps behind him stop for a long moment, then patter quickly to catch up with him as he made his way into the elevator. Her eyes were huge as she stepped into the space with him. 

“What do you mean staying with you?” 

“Just what I said. Your delusional mother decided that who you love matters more than the love she is supposed to have as a mother, and that is unacceptable. You do not deserve to be treated like that. And there is no reason for you to be on the streets by yourself when I am right here. You didn’t think I would really let you become homeless did you?” 

Her cheeks flushed and she looked back at the floor. “I can’t ask you to do this Tony. It’s too much.” 

He stepped forward and gave her a third hug, more than he’d given to anyone other than Pepper in decades. Her arms slowly came to wrap around his back. “It’s not. I’d do anything for you kid. I care so much about you Libby, I swear I will help you through all of this.” 

Her shoulders shook with a fresh round of tears and he squeezed her tighter. He heard the elevator ding, but did not pull away from her until he heard someone clear their throat. 

He let go of Liberty but kept his arm around her shoulders. He’d been partially right his first time meeting her, she was pretty tall for her age, but she still fit perfectly under his shoulder. 

Pepper was standing at the door looking over the two of them with a small smile. “I’ll go put some sheets on the guest bed. It’s nice to see you again Liberty.” 

Liberty smiled weakly, her lips wobbling a little. “Thank you so much.” 

Pepper just stepped forward and softly kissed Liberty’s forehead and then Tony’s cheek. “Don’t worry about anything kiddo. We’ve got you now.” She swept down the hall and disappeared into the room next to the master bedroom. 

Tony led Liberty forward into the kitchen. “This is the kitchen, the living room is connected just through there. The bathroom right off of the hallway behind the pantry, and there’s an adjoining one in your room. You can go anywhere you want, use anything you want. If you want some company, you can come wake me or Pepper up at any time in the night, we don’t mind at all. Okay?” 

A few more tears slipped down her cheek, but Liberty nodded. “I don’t even know what to say.” 

He squeezed her shoulder. ‘You don’t need to say anything. We’ll figure this all out Liberty.” 

She smiled at him, a hint of that dimple peeking out from her reddened cheek. “I like Libby.” 

He smiled. “Libby it is. Let’s get you settled in.” 

He led her down the hallway to the spare bedroom that Pepper had set up. There were fresh sheets and a pair of Pepper’s sweatpants and a sweatshirt laid out on the bed. He assumed she’d tucked in some other items for Liberty somewhere that he couldn’t see so the girl wasn’t embarrassed, and he silently thanked her for being such a genius. 

She’d also fully stocked the bathroom with soaps and fresh towels. Once he made sure that she knew how to work the shower and that she knew she could come get the two of them at any time, he told her goodnight and went to his own bedroom. 

Pepper was waiting for him in bed, and he dropped heavily onto the bed. He rested his head in her lap and closed his eyes as her nails scratched gently at his scalp. “So should I harass the judges out of bed to sign guardianship papers now, or can it wait until morning?” 

He cracked open an eye and saw her smirking down at him. He grinned back at her. “I think it can wait until morning.” 

She snorted and he closed his eyes again, letting her gentle scratches and the thought of Libby safe and sound in the room right next door lull him into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> All credit for this idea to a post I saw from Tumblr, but I'm not sure who posted it.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, have a fantastic day! Let me know if you'd like a part two, or anything you'd like to see in a part two?


End file.
